There are only three key takeaways coming out of the second round of the 2016 presidential debates or #PilipinasDebates2016
held in the Cebu campus of the University of the Philippines (UP Cebu):
(1) Mar Roxas was the butt of jokes, swipes, and even a seeming
collusion between his three opponents, (2) Vice President Jejomar Binay
was not in his element keeping up and jumping into the fast-pace of the
debate format used in this session; and, (3) Rodrigo Duterte and Grace
Poe emerged as the most eloquent and witty of the lot.
Roxas, having been chief of two departments critical to securing
Filipinos’ safety and security — the Departments of Transportation and
Communication and of the Interior and Local Government — was bogged down
by inquiries into his poor performance leading those departments. He
was an easy target to potshots and the witty pasarings of the
other three candidates having overseen botched management of natural
disasters and police commando operations, and an abject degeneration of
key infrastructure works that impacted the lives of hundreds of
thousands if not millions of Filipinos.
Indeed, the debate overall remained constantly in danger of sliding
into degenerate mud-slinging between the candidates. However it was
quite notable that the worst mudslinging was always between Roxas and all the rest.
Remarkably, there was very little evidence of open animosity between
Poe, Binay, and Duterte. The most bitter clashes were reserved for ones
that had Roxas as the primary target of the fielded arguments.
When you performed badly, suffice to say, you are sentenced to spend
the rest of your life explaining yourself. Ironic indeed, as there were
many instances that some of Roxas’s responses to the pointed questions
directed at him were borderline revisionist. For example, Roxas’s
account of his involvement in the events that led to the massacre of
the 44 Special Action Force officers in Mamasapano seemed to gloss over
details that pointed to his being outside of President Benigno Simeon
‘BS’ Aquino III’s tight circle of trust. Instead, Roxas asserted that
Aquino assumed that he was on top of the situation and routinely
kept informed by General Alan Purisima about the operation. Whatever the
case, the fact that Pursima, who, at the time, was suspended from his
role as Philippine Police director, was Roxas’s supposed only link to
the operation still makes Roxas look like a chump nonetheless.
That said, exchanges between Roxas and Binay, who were pretty much
seriously at each other’s throats over most of the debate period, were
not the highlight of the show. It was the composed and consistent
eloquence of Senator Poe, and the sharp wittiness of Duterte that stole
the show. Ultimately, this being a media event and the elections, as a
whole, being a popularity contest, the trophies go to the most engaging
stars of the show.
Duterte, for one, shone during the exchange surrounding the issue of
the Philippines’ clean energy sourcing strategy. While Poe and Roxas
liberally issued promises to do this and that and build this and that,
Duterte kept to a simple and sensible position — the Philippines, a
developing country, simply cannot afford “clean” energy. Duterte also
pointed out what many commentators have long observed — that developed
and wealthy nations that account for the bulk of greenhouse gas
emissions have so far failed to commit in a manner proportionate to what
less-developed nations will have been expected to invest in the effort.
In that regard, there really is no point, at this point, for the
Philippines to be even putting a problem this big as a priority given
the abundance of low-hanging fruit that leaders have yet to pick.
The show was capped by a replay of what transpired and was captured
by the cameras over what comprised the more than one-hour delay on the
start of the debate. Apparently it was Binay who was the cause of the
delay thanks, supposedly, to a “miscommunication” over the rules on the
use of notes during the debate. Nonetheless, the banter caught on camera
between Poe, Duterte, and Roxas while they stood awkwardly on stage
behind their respective podiums was priceless. Unfortunately for Roxas,
his lack of charm and charisma was all the more evident in that period
of awkwardness, the chemistry between Poe and Duterte clearly outshining
his evidently dull personality. Both Poe and Duterte exhibited a
natural talent for engaging people, skilfully working the audience while
everyone waited for the Binay issue to be resolved.
Good show overall. The issues were adequately spoken to through both
the eloquence of the candidates and the insights that emerged as a
result of the exchange in arguments — which is the whole point of a
presidential debate, an occasion out of which Filipino voters could get
to know their candidates better all-around.
No comments:
Post a Comment